The reddit community has presented a workaround for problems users were having playing Far Cry 3, as the shooter sequel is now available in Europe, saying simply setting the game's Uplay mode to "offline" allows it to be played even with the servers unavailable. As detailed on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, many users were unable to play due to Uplay servers being offline, leading to accusations of more Ubisoft always-on DRM. In the meantime, Eurogamer notes that besides the workaround, Ubi tweets that the servers are back: "Dear #FarCry3PC players, thank you for your patience, our servers are back up & running. Have fun playing!"

I think that would work fine for me, as I rarely play multi. Thanks for the answer.

Yeah agreed. I am going to wait til the Xmas sale.

It hurts me to read that, Prez. The entire time I've been playing FC3 so far I've been awe struck by it. There's been occasional moments where I even caught myself muttering "Fuck me this game is good.".

You and I both know what it takes for a game to have that kind of an impression on a PC gamer. This game -- the developers! -- deserve your support, man. I'd ask you to reconsider

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 12:16:Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

I remember Ubisoft lied about From Dust requiring activation and always online connection. They are a really conflicted company, they make good PC games but seem to hate their customers, makes no sense.

I bought Far Cry 3 because I don't mind a one time activation. Your customers matter more than pirates Ubi!

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

Dades, if you have used it at all, have you had any trouble with the offline mode?

It works fine but disables any main menu options related to online functionality. I don't play alot of coop or multiplay so I just play it offline.

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

I believe it also disables Uplay achievements, which is the only way you can unlock a specific weapon and side-mission.

Ant wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 20:27:I thought Ubisoft was going to remove its DRM!

If you read their press release in the news story about them supposedly ditching their DRM (which I dug up when this story first got reported here on Friday) they don't explicitly state that they wouldn't be using the same DRM, only that you only would be required to be online for one-time activation. Which technically is true with Far Cry 3, though I had envisioned it working much better than it reportedly has.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 12:16:Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

I remember Ubisoft lied about From Dust requiring activation and always online connection. They are a really conflicted company, they make good PC games but seem to hate their customers, makes no sense.

I bought Far Cry 3 because I don't mind a one time activation. Your customers matter more than pirates Ubi!

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

Dades, if you have used it at all, have you had any trouble with the offline mode?

It works fine but disables any main menu options related to online functionality. I don't play alot of coop or multiplay so I just play it offline.

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

I think that would work fine for me, as I rarely play multi. Thanks for the answer.

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 12:16:Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

I remember Ubisoft lied about From Dust requiring activation and always online connection. They are a really conflicted company, they make good PC games but seem to hate their customers, makes no sense.

I bought Far Cry 3 because I don't mind a one time activation. Your customers matter more than pirates Ubi!

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

Dades, if you have used it at all, have you had any trouble with the offline mode?

It works fine but disables any main menu options related to online functionality. I don't play alot of coop or multiplay so I just play it offline.

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 12:16:Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

I remember Ubisoft lied about From Dust requiring activation and always online connection. They are a really conflicted company, they make good PC games but seem to hate their customers, makes no sense.

I bought Far Cry 3 because I don't mind a one time activation. Your customers matter more than pirates Ubi!

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

Dades, if you have used it at all, have you had any trouble with the offline mode?

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 12:16:Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

I remember Ubisoft lied about From Dust requiring activation and always online connection. They are a really conflicted company, they make good PC games but seem to hate their customers, makes no sense.

I bought Far Cry 3 because I don't mind a one time activation. Your customers matter more than pirates Ubi!

The funniest thing about his rant was that he expects us to just take Ubisoft at their word that the offline mode works because they said it does, never mind that professional reviewers, gaming journalists, and no small amount of gamers who laid their money are saying that it doesn't, or at least it wasn't at first. Nah Ubisoft has never lied or shown gross incompetence before.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Slick wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 04:00:the online servers went down, now they're up, i guess you've never seen that happen before? but look who i'm talking to, someone who obviously isn't "new to the internet".

So Ubi told its customers to go to offline mode, and then play. sounds like the end of the world if i've ever heard it. that's the kind of thing that makes a man go crazy and turn into a thief for GOOD REASONS.

People complaining about DRM are not automatically pirates which kind of puts a crimp in the rest of your little diatribe there. It's not exactly out of the realm of believability that a paying customer will turn to a pirated copy when they encounter issues too, I've done it myself several times in frustration.

StingingVelvet wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 03:14:It crashed during the 1.5 patch. Never crashed before that, never crashed after. I have always said exactly that. The comment below talked about crashing on day one, my answer was honest.

Haha no it wasn't, you said "I was not lying or exaggerating, I have never crashed, ever" which was is as dubious now as it was then. You did not say "I have never crashed ever except for that one time" until after I linked the post of you admitting to crash. People exaggerate (no crashes in 20 years of computing? puhleeze no one will ever buy that) and forget things they said so whatever, it's the internet and no one really cares but you were blaming peoples issues on their computers in that old thread so you got a bit of your own medicine.

The simple fact is I don't have this problem anywhere else. I speak my mind and never lie and am mostly respected and have good debates. Only here do people label me as things (shill, anti-steam, contrarian) and fail to actually read what I write. The fact that's interesting from a social perspective is the only reason I occasionally still post.

I think people read what you say just fine and it's more of an intent thing. You've admitted that you come onto the forums to post opposition stuff to argue, both here and on the GOG forums because you find the debate interesting. So sometimes it's hard to read the golly gee willikers ive never had a problem with my uplay type stuff as totally innocent. Speaking of which Uplay is even more half baked than Origin and has a user interface looks like a devs kid had a go at it.

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 07:47:You are amazingly skilled at ignoring what others are saying aren't you? An offline mode indeed is a viable means of playing a game as long as the offline mode works as they advertise. According to many accounts it thus far does not in AC 3.

Assassin's Creed 3 seems to be spelled wrong in the news story. I could of sworn it was about Far Cry 3 and the service issue which was fixed by playing in offline mode, which is what I obviously referring to.

I don't have hands-on experience with either game, I've been overseas for almost a year without my gaming PC. When I say "never had a problem with Uplay" I mean in my experience, obviously. When I say the Far Cry 3 issue is not "as horrible" because you can just put it offline mode, I am using information received from reputable news sources. I didn't consider or care about Assassin's Creed stuff when I wrote it.

Sorry if that offends you.

Yeah, apologies - I meant Far Cry 3 in this case, not AC3 (damn this hangover...). Which, incidentally, seems to have a working offline mode by all accounts.Thus there seems to be far fewer complaints about DRM, at least from what I've read, as compared to the game in question, Far Cry 3. Maybe people aren't as unreasonable as you claim after all. If Ubisoft has gotten the offline mode working as it should, then I'll buy it with no complaints (unless the Uplay front end is as annoying as Creston and others say it is, but that's another story. )

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Prez wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 07:47:You are amazingly skilled at ignoring what others are saying aren't you? An offline mode indeed is a viable means of playing a game as long as the offline mode works as they advertise. According to many accounts it thus far does not in AC 3.

Assassin's Creed 3 seems to be spelled wrong in the news story. I could of sworn it was about Far Cry 3 and the service issue which was fixed by playing in offline mode, which is what I obviously referring to.

I don't have hands-on experience with either game, I've been overseas for almost a year without my gaming PC. When I say "never had a problem with Uplay" I mean in my experience, obviously. When I say the Far Cry 3 issue is not "as horrible" because you can just put it offline mode, I am using information received from reputable news sources. I didn't consider or care about Assassin's Creed stuff when I wrote it.

Jerykk wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 08:04:Sure, you can play in offline mode but then you lose the following:- Multiplayer- Co-op- Achievements (which can actually be used to unlock stuff in Uplay)

If you actually care about those things, being forced to play in offline mode isn't a good solution. Origin is a much better service than Uplay. It doesn't break your game if you lose your connection. It doesn't force you to download and install a game before you can link it to your account. It lets you choose where you wish to download and install your games. It doesn't have a very good UI but compared to Uplay, it's a masterpiece of layout and usability.

Jerykk wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 04:17:You seem to treat this like it's acceptable or something. If you went to a restaurant and ordered a steak, you'd probably complain if the steak was under or overcooked. If you went to a movie and the first half hour of the movie had no sound, you'd probably complain too. Similarly, if I pay $50 for a game and can't play it for a day with full functionality because of a worthless DRM scheme, I'll probably complain. Consumers should get angry when the products and services they pay for don't meet expectations. Apathetic customers are just as bad as apathetic pirates.

Indeed.

That said, clicking the offline button isn't the horrible thing a lot of people are making it out to be. Ubisoft is an easy target because of their past stupidity, just like EA.

Sure, you can play in offline mode but then you lose the following:- Multiplayer- Co-op- Achievements (which can actually be used to unlock stuff in Uplay)

If you actually care about those things, being forced to play in offline mode isn't a good solution. Origin is a much better service than Uplay. It doesn't break your game if you lose your connection. It doesn't force you to download and install a game before you can link it to your account. It lets you choose where you wish to download and install your games. It doesn't have a very good UI but compared to Uplay, it's a masterpiece of layout and usability.

I didn't say it was necessarily justified or not ('apathy party'? Really?) - I was responding to your being "amazed" when people talk like this everywhere. If you want to go on a personal crusade to end piracy then that's your business, but I just don't get you being surprised that some people pirate games and feel justified in doing so to bring it up.

As far as who is a thief and who isn't, this has been discussed to death. Personally, I have a hard time calling someone a thief if they download a warez copy of a game that they paid for because the legit copy has some broke-dick DRM that is keeping them from playing it, but whatever. I honestly don't even care to debate what is "stealing" or "infringing" - I worry about playing games that I pay for and that's it. I haven't played a game that I didn't pay for in over 10 years now, and I doubt that I ever would again. I really couldn't care less what it's called when I download a working pirated copy of Assassin's Creed because the legal one doesn't work.

That said, clicking the offline button isn't the horrible thing a lot of people are making it out to be.

You are amazingly skilled at ignoring what others are saying aren't you? An offline mode indeed is a viable means of playing a game as long as the offline mode works as they advertise. According to many accounts it thus far does not in AC 3.

This comment was edited on Dec 2, 2012, 07:53.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Jerykk wrote on Dec 2, 2012, 04:17:You seem to treat this like it's acceptable or something. If you went to a restaurant and ordered a steak, you'd probably complain if the steak was under or overcooked. If you went to a movie and the first half hour of the movie had no sound, you'd probably complain too. Similarly, if I pay $50 for a game and can't play it for a day with full functionality because of a worthless DRM scheme, I'll probably complain. Consumers should get angry when the products and services they pay for don't meet expectations. Apathetic customers are just as bad as apathetic pirates.

Indeed.

That said, clicking the offline button isn't the horrible thing a lot of people are making it out to be. Ubisoft is an easy target because of their past stupidity, just like EA.